Month: Mar 2012

It’s a bit fresh out today. But Mavis is awake and looking better. We managed a walk with louis. So maybe this is day 1 of the next up period. Sod what the oncologist said or didn’t say. WE must get on and do what we must do. Dwelling on what might or might not be round the corner is not good. We must all one day look round the corner. So why rush headlong . relax take your time. This side of the street is just fine today. Count my blessings. I have a lovely home, a lovely wife my best friend a lovely dog. A lovely son and daughter in law. What more can I ask for. Time as they say waits for no man. How philosophical is that.

We sat and watched TV this afternoon just chilling out. My net is still on my phone is still working Ive cooked a lunch and later we had a lovely iced bun and a coffee.

Me! Yes ME! who prides himself of you don’t catch me. Almost almost almost got scammed today. Got a call it was an indian talking very fast and hard to understand. The jest was I had a virus. No I havent I said.. He said you had an error come up on my screen and I clicked send. It came through to the microsoft support team. He kept asking me to login. I said I am logged in. he was gabbling away. i asked him when did this happen . I couldn’t understand a word. He said If I am patient he would show me the error and the trojan I had . Just type this in for me. Now This is where after about 3 or 4 minutes of struggling to understand. i said ok repeat that. I typed it in my search box. But it didnt work. he was persistent . He passed me over to a woman who did the same only she was more persistent and asked me what did I see . I said it can’t find you. So s he said start again. she was getting impatient with me. So I said OK OK I can’t deal with this. She was rambling so i said Just Piss Off and hung up.

A few minutes later they rung again Mavis answered it and they started on her they said they knew who we were . Mavis asked how do you know us. They gave us our address . they were trying to get mavis to do it. I said just hang up. It’s a scam. Mavis said if you know all this and you want to help put it in writing and hung up.

I’ve been on the web surfing for them it was http://www.teamview.com. It’s an old scam doing the rounds again. They get really nasty if you don’t do what they asked. So Be prepared.

***

Waited ALL DAY for a call from Dr Cominos . at 4pm I phoned. What was it about I was asked. I knew it. We will get back to you .That was an hour ago.

Just had an email notification from my publisher. Someone has just bought 6 of my books today. Surprised. But nice to know.

Just got The Call. Still no news yet. they havent seen a radiologist. They will decide over the next 2 weeks at the next meeting what to do about more Chemo. Shambles.

Now Mave has moved from perking up this morning , down now to depressed mavis again.

Much to my surprise ,at 8 am the engineer phoned to say he was in my local exchange working on my fault. I said are you changing the old cards . Yes thats what I am here for. Great. At 10.30 he phoned to say it was all done.. Ive checked my speed its 2.9. and he said it will take 10 days to settle down. 2.9 meg. Ive never had that in 12 years. here.

A brilliant job. I have phoned my provider and thanked them. Credit where its due.

The district nurse came to do Maves pic line at 8 30. But noe its no more chemo that should come out now. So when we speak to cominos on friday we must ask.

My unlocked phone is working OK. I am so chuffed with myself for doing that. I should have done it a long time ago,instead of bunging it in the drawer last November when I switched from BT.

Its been a bright sunny day. Mavis actually came shopping with me today. She sais its good to get out for a change. She feels a bit better today still not 100% but perky. Thats a good sign.

My broadband has stayed on all day brilliant. Its dropped a bit since this morning but its still 3 and 4 times more than I was getting. I really hope I have seen the last of the shutdowns.

It amazes me. Ive been complaining of crap service on and off for best part of the 12 years Ive been here. The amount of stupid excuses I have been given and the amount of times I have had the faceplate off the socket is a joke. They all come test this and say Sorry its a line fault. Then another comes and says sorry Its a broadband fault. Or not that long ago I got a bill for £165 for the call out because they said the fault was in my equipment. When all this time its been grotty old knackered cards in the exchange. This guy yesterday was the best engineer we have ever had.

The provider said I will get a full refund for all the time without service.

My post yesterday was short. With the not to good news from hospital I needed time to get my thoughts together.

The news is confusing really. I am sure Mavis Blog explained it better . Its just that its no more chemo at the moment ,doesnt mean no more ever. It was taking its toll on Mave and they said it should be viewed as quality of life not quantity. In other words its better to have a shorter but good quality than a long suffering existance.

That said doesnt make it easier. It takes a while to adjust. I am sure we are not talking weeks or months. Mave is unsure if she will see Christmas. Silly girl. I said I expect you to see the one after that. WE shall see.

She came home depressed and down today. But after a short nap she is awake and perky again. This is how we must be.

We have a long way to go yet and we can still fight back.

The openreach Broad Band engineer is due today between 8 am and 1 pm. I have no idea what he will find. But I will be angry if he says no fault found. I am not sure what I will do. because as openreach or BT whatever own the lines. Untill the fault is sorted I am going to have the same problem. I had it with Tiscaly and then with BT and Now DTC Direct.

I had an unsolicited call from Talk Talk he said I had recently surfed his web page, was I interested in switching. He went n giving me the speel about casts and what he could give me. I said what about speed. He said wait and I will check. He came back with 1,3 to 3.2 meg download. I asked him how can he give me those sort of speeds ,He said he is telling me what my line can receive. I said Yer Ive heard it all before. My current provider said I will get at least 2.1 and here I am getting 0.110. He said thats not right. I said guarantee me at least 1.5meg and I will switch now. But he shuffled a bit. I asked him loads of questions and I could detect that he was backing off now. He wouldnt commit now that I pushed him. Did I want to switch now because he couldnt guarantee this offer later. I said AH!!! that old chestnut sign up now or loose it. I said thanks but if and when I decide to do it I will. When is a good time to get back to you . I said never. I will get back to you. He said ok and hung up. Derrrr!!!

***

Well today I think the Broadband saga has reached new heights. The Engineer arrived at 8 .30 am as promised.. He said Morning you have a Broadband fault. Yes Come in. . He said I can see its on. Yes but its not very fast. So he put this meter on it. I can see straight away its not a broadband fault he said. Its a line Fault. OH NO ! The other engineer said its a broadband fault.

He asked me the history of the fault. I said we have been here 12 years and Broadband has never been good. Its just got worse lately.

I said if you wait till 9 am it will switch off. I offered a cup of tea. And he said look at my meter its going mad racking up faults. When it reached 800 he said it will drop out. As we watched the meeter go up and down we chatted. Then just after 9 am it died.

Ok he said now its off I can start a search. He left and said Ill call you back. About an hour later he called I said its on again. But intermittent. Ok he said I am off to check out the exchange.

He came back about 11 am. Well I asked what’s the score because what ever you did I now have 2.5 meg.

That’s impossible he said. Because you have 3. 5 meg from the exchange to the box outside the shop ( which is about 200 yard away) and from there to here you don’t have a connection. At least not in the box here in the car park. So where are you getting a supply.

We sat chatting again while he monitored it. It hovered around 2.6 to 2.8 meg. Then throttled back to about 1.3meg. He said its stable now. Hows that. I said disappointing but I can live with it.

So what did you find.

Your problem is at the exchange. He explained that I have 32 Cards for this area. And 16 allocated to businesses. The remainder to domestic. He said the wiring is in a shocking state. The Cards are Old and can no longer cope with the load. When the businesses start up in the morning around 8 am the load tries to share the overload with the domestic cards but they just fall over, Hence no net for me until they shut up at 5 pm when I get it back. But they still cant carry and load so the speed is throttled back to avoid collapse.

He said what is required to cure this is Shift and Lift. That means the cards need replacing with new uprated cards.. I will report this and hopefully it will get sorted. He jokingly said I know its up now but don’t hold your breath.

Sure enough it went off and an a few times before dropping out. Its 3 pm and I’ve no net and don’t expect it back till about 6 pm.

I phoned my provider and told them what he had said. They said Ok they will now raise for open reach to do this shift and lift thing. But it may take 24 hours to put in place.

If this works after 24 hours. Then its taken 12 years of fault reporting and engineers visits and lots of arguments and bad feeling. This guy today was the most precise and informative that’s ever come here.

I watch this with baited breath and hope for a result.

Mavis said she wanted to get up today. She is so unsteady on her feet and has no energy. She is being sick at the moment. She tried a short walk round the Garden but couldnt make it.

We decided what she fancied for tea. Steak pie with Mashed potatoes and beans. So thats my next task.

Well its now 7.05 pm still no connection. I doubt it will be on now. And probable not on tomorrow either.

I did dinner tonight but what a cockup. Saucepanns .plates cutlery tools everywhere everything going on on the stove and in the oven. Mavis giving me instructions. I burnt myself umpteen times. I was in a mess. But I served it and it was hot and we ate it.

Must practice more.

I dont believe it .Its 10 past 7 and its come on. So I will post before Iloose it.

The ongoing Broadband saga. It was off again this morning. But the open reach engineer rang and said he has checked my phone line and its working ok. I said its broadband not phone. After a heated exchange he hung up. Before I could phone the fault team the phone went dead. I am fuming now!.

The line came back and during the next half hour it was in and out several times. Each time I got in touch with the fault team I was cut off. Now I am livid.

Eventually it came back long enough to talk to them. I was furious. I said I am fed up with stupid excuses. I want the line fixed in the next 2 days or that’s it. Ok we will do a line test.

But shortly it came back. Wait for it. speed up from 200 kbs to 700. another check its 809. Another check its 1.1 mb. WOW! another check its 1.2mb Blimey! another check its 1.6mb. It never been this fast since I switched to them in November.

So now I wait with bated breath for it to drop out and then see what speed it comes back with..

Mave has got up now. She looks better. But the day is young yet.

It’s really cold outside today. I thought it was to be in the high 70s??

***

Its 4.14 the nests been on all day and the speed is still good. Its dropped a bit since this morning but its OK.

I’ve managed to catch up on a few things so the day hasn’t been wasted.

We ar e both in limbo waiting for the chemo review tomorrow. I dread to think what oncologist will say. If they stop chemo ? Whats our next step. We are not keen on anymore trials. It’s a false hope and we don’t have a lot of faith in them now.